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Local governments that lack a lobbying oversight program do not have to merely throw up their hands when a huge procurement matter arises. They have the choice to set rules for that matter which, if it works, may later be applied more generally.

This is the lesson that comes from the York, Ontario region which, according to a recent...

When it comes to lobbying disclosure, local government agencies
should lead the way. According to an
article in the San Diego Reader, this is not the case
with the San Diego Airport Authority, whose lobbying firm did not
disclose any of the lobbying it did for the Authority in the first half of 2015.

"At the end of the day, anybody could fall into a trap like I
did."
— Former New York state senator Thomas W. Libous, after being
sentenced to a $50,000 fine and probation for lying about the fact
that he helped get his son a job with a local law firm and then
arranged for a $50,000 payment to the law firm by a lobbying firm
that represented clients with matters before him. It is rare for
indirect pay to play to be prosecuted. It happened only because the
senator lied about...

The big news in local government ethics yesterday was the
publication of the final report of Quebec's Charbonneau Commission,
which investigated bid rigging in the Montreal area, involving not
only government officials and contractors, but also the Mafia and
Hells Angels (see my
2012 blog post on the investigation).

I will not permit any individual who was a paid member of my
campaign or my mayoral staff to lobby me or my office on behalf of a
private entity. This prohibition will extend through my full
four-year term...

“If you hold a tiger by the tail, you have a difficult choice to
make: Do you let go or not? It’s not a good thing to alienate any
legislative leader.”

—Richard Runes, lobbyist for Glenwood Management, a large New York
state real estate developer that allegedly gave tax work to a law
firm that then made undisclosed payments to the state's Assembly
Speaker, who had allegedly recommended the law firm. The quote
refers to continuing the use of this law firm, knowing that if it...